Cigarette Lips

"The taste of cigarette smoke clung to her tongue, even though she had not touched a single one in months.
On her short walk home, the girl waded through her whereabouts of the last few days, still wondering where this bitter taste in her mouth came from.
Was it Charlie?
Charlie smoked, but they had not kissed in three days. He was still at the conference in Brighton. And she was here, in the City, alone with her cigarette lips and a strong desire to get rid of them.
Vi's thoughts returned to the night she had passed in rowdy company in a seedy pub in a "you should avoid it if you can" part of town. Not once did it occur to her that she might not be safe. She had worn thick eyeliner and lipstick for the first time in months. Charlie did not like her with make-up on. She loved it.
"Who. Is. That?" A friend of Charlie had asked another friend of Charlie.
"Charlie's girlfriend."
That was that. He did not come talk to her. But... Another friend of theirs, whose first love was eavesdropping, did. He came over to where Vi was sitting among a group of other people, discussing the latest nihilistic novel they supposedly had all read. It was exactly the kind of conversation that would get you in trouble in those parts of town, but no one seemed to care that a bunch of intellectuals were congregating at a rock concert that quickly escalated into a beer throwing fest.
Vi did not seem to mind, neither did the rest.
By the end of the night, every single person smelt like the floor of a brewery and looked like a broken hearted drag queen. But the night had been a success, for the aim had been to "expand their horizons". They had fulfilled their weekend mission and could now return to their monotonous every day lives, packed with coffee orders and mindless chit-chat, as well as being one step from suicidal.
Vi thought about Charlie. She would soon have to tell him that she was no longer in love with the life they had built together and that she wanted to wear make-up every day and dance on podiums all night. He'd hate it.
She was strangely looking forward to it, as if she was finally answering long awaited call from a friend in a war zone."